4/26/2012 Dealing with Tragedy By Len Paxton excerpts from a teaching CD

Don’t think you are the only one. There are many who are going through hard times and maybe even experience what you have.

Seek for the strength that only Jesus Christ can give you. God wants you to go to Him. Trusting Him. He is the only one who can give us victory. 1 Peter 5:7 Cast your cares on Him. He loves you. People can only help on the surface. Is. 53:4

Don’t be bitter. Instead of getting bitter, get better… Bitterness is like a cancer. It will eat away your soul.

Begin on a positive course of action to love, help, and bless others. It takes the focus off of ourselves and puts it over to those who need help.

Plan to spend eternity in a place where tragedy never occurs. Rev. 21:4

We are made up of our spirit, our soul, & our body. Many times when tragedies come we pray from our soul. Our soul is made up of our mind, our will, & our emotions.

When we first hear about a situation we feel compassion and feel empathy. Our hearts even hurt for the people evolved. We feel their pain.

Our mind starts to say, “What can I do to help”. How can I fix this situation? It rehearses the tragedy and how the outcomes could be. “What can I do to change this situation”.

Our will is what makes us decide and initiate action. We deliberately act on what our mind and emotions put forth.

There is nothing wrong with feeling compassion. Jesus was moved with compassion.

The Latin meaning of compassion is, “CO-suffering”. This compassion leads to an active desire to alleviate another’s suffering.

In 2 Cor. 1 it talks about The Father of mercies, & the God of all comfort. How we have been comforted in all our tribulations so we can comfort those who also are in trouble.

Vs 9 is the key when praying for those in need. “…that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God…” Vs 12… “not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God…”

When praying and acting towards another person’s hurt and pain we need to do it with our renewed spirit. When we are born again we have a renewed spirit. We are given the mind of Christ.

If we pray in the flesh, in our old nature, we pray our desires, our corrupt desires. We need to be renewed in our minds. Eph. 4 talks about stripping ourselves of our former nature, which characterizes our previous manner of life, because it becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring up from delusions.

We need to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude. Putting on the New nature created in the image of God. Godlike in true righteousness and holiness.

There are practical actions that we need to take, if someone is thirsty, give them a drink of water. If someone is hungry, feed them.

What I am talking about it getting to know the mind of Christ in a situation. Praying with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:26

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

We can really mess things up if we react with our fleshly nature.

I think sometimes there are people who have a God complex and rush to people’s aide because they want to control the situation. They want to influence the outcome. They want the person to look to them for their strength and to meet their need.

They do it to feel good. Or maybe even to mend a past hurt or pain of their own. Some even help others to ease their guilt.

None of these things will help the situation. It is so much deeper than our own attempts to ease someone’s sufferings.

Jesus even said, “I have not come on My own authority and of My own accord and as self-appointed, but the One Who sent Me is true (real, genuine, steadfast)…”

He was always looking to the Father, praying to the Father, & about doing the Father’s will.

We need to push past our soul (mind, will, & emotions), our flesh and yield our spirit to His Spirit, so as we pray, we will receive God’s will and react to that instead of our own will.

Rom 8:26-27 So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.

27 And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] on behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God’s will.

Letting the Holy Spirit led our prayers puts us in harmony with the will of God.

In these last days there will increased sorrow. Many will fall away because they are in the flesh. They are looking to their own strength. They see only the tragedies around them and lose sight of the One who gives strength, who gives wisdom, who can turn their situation around.

So Be:

…Be earnest and unwearied and steadfast in your prayer [life], being [both] alert and intent in [your praying]…

…Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly];Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus…

…be cautious and active) and watch and pray, that you may not come into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak…

…Be on your guard [constantly alert], and watch and pray; for you do not know when the time will come….

…be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in prayer…

…be filled with the full (deep and clear) knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom [in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God] and in understanding and discernment of spiritual things—…

…be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, [to exercise] every kind of endurance and patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy…

…“Be careful! When you do something good, don’t do it in front of others so that they will see you. If you do that, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven…

Don’t Be:

…Don’t be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full already…

…don’t be like ·those people who don’t know God [the pagans/Gentiles/heathen]. They ·continue saying things that mean nothing [babble; repeat empty phrases], thinking ·that God will hear them [L they will be heard; C the passive verb implies God as subject] because of their many words….

…notbe afraid…

We could go on and on. We just have to look at the situations in our lives and in other people’s lives through the eyes and heart of God. Praying past our mind, will, & emotions and looking unto the Author and Finisher of our Faith. Pray in Faith believing and leaving the results unto Him. This does not mean we have no actions, this kind of prayer will produce the proper actions.

Father help us to see that praying in our own flesh will produce corruption and confusion. We look to you today for our loved ones, our friends, & even our enemies. We lift them up in prayer believing that you will work in their lives. That the outcomes will be according to your will and not ours. In Jesus Name…

16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.

He always looked at advancing the Gospel in the midst of all the circumstances he found himself in.

He used everything as a stepping stone for the unfolding plan of God.

God is in control of our circumstances. God is not waiting for the circumstances to be right or to be changed. He uses all circumstances to cause us to grow and to advance the Gospel.

Romans 8:28

New King James Version (NKJV)

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

How you handle a circumstance in your life can be a witness of the Gospel to those around you.

Paul’s attitude:

…the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel….

Joseph’s attitude:

…As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today…

Jesus’s attitude:

…“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”…

Stephen the Martyr’s attitude:

…“Lord, do not charge them with this sin.”…

Corrie ten Boom’s Attitude:

….”God does not have problems. Only plans.”… “There is no pit so deep that Gods love is not deeper still.”… …”Don’t worry about me, the things that have happened to me have served as an advancement of the Gospel. The important thing is that Christ is Preached.”

The important thing is that Christ is Preached.

We must examine ourselves to make sure our attitudes are Christ like. We can’t let the motives of others change our attitude.

And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who beganagoodwork in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that goodwork] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.

Do you not know that if you continually surrender yourselves to anyone to do his will, you are the slaves of him whom you obey, whether that be to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness (right doing and right standing with God)?

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel (good news) of Christ, for it is God’s power working unto salvation [for deliverance from eternal death] to everyone who believes with a personal trust and a confident surrenderand firm reliance, to the Jew first and also to the Greek…

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves thisday whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall callonthenameoftheLord shall be saved.

God will not stop His pursuit of you as long as you are here on earth. It is His will that all be saved. He is not a quitter. You may think that you have gone too far, or that your sin is too great, think again….He will not leave you nor forsake you. Call on Him today, He is right there…

MHC – Wherever this good work is begun it is of God’s beginning: He has begun a good work in you. We could not begin it ourselves, for we are by nature dead in trespasses and sins: and what can dead men do towards raising themselves to life; or how can they begin to act till they are enlivened in the same respect in which they are said to be dead? It is God who quickens those who are thus dead, Eph. 2:1; Col. 2:13. (3.) The work of grace is but begun in this life; it is not finished here; as long as we are in this imperfect state there is something more to be done. (4.) If the same God who begins the good work did not undertake the carrying on and finishing of it, it would lie for ever unfinished. He must perform it who began it. (5.) We may be confident, or well persuaded, that God not only will not forsake, but that he will finish and crown the work of his own hands.

We all have some kind of past that we are not too happy about. There are things that come to mind and remind us who we were. We do not have to act on those memories. Don’t let what has happened to you define who you are.

The promises of God are greater than my character flaws. All those things that are in me that are opposite of God’s character do not have to stay and do not have to determine what I am today.

The promises of God is greater than the confinements of your past. What ever you have been or where you have come from is not a determinate of your future.

Don’t let anything or anyone else but God determine the boundaries of your life…Don’t let anything or anyone else but God determine the boundaries of who you will be or what you will accomplish in life…. (Claude Houde)

Acts 17:26-28

New King James Version (NKJV)

26 And He has made from one blood[a] every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

You have been chosen by God…

1 Peter 2:9-10

New King James Version (NKJV)

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

God is in control of your life. He is working in you and through you. Don’t trust in yourself or in man.

MHC – That in him we live, and move, and have our being, Acts 17:28. We have a necessary and constant dependence upon his providence, as the streams have upon the spring, and the beams upon the sun.

11 For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.

MHC – He that in the beginning finished the heavens and the earth, and all the hosts of both, will finish all the blessings of both to his people. When he begins in ways of mercy he will make an end. God does nothing by halves. (2.) He will give them to see the expectation, that end which they desire and hope for, and have been long waiting for. He will give them, not the expectations of their fears, nor the expectations of their fancies, but the expectations of their faith, the end which he has promised and which will turn for the best to them.

28 We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.

Be lifted up today…Have Faith, Hope, & Peace in knowing that God is working in you and will continue to work in you until Christ be formed in you. Do not let your past form you, let what Jesus did and is doing form you.

6 And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.

He will continue developing and perfecting you…He is not done with me yet….Praise God!!! He is not done with you yet. Look to Him for today and for your future. Let Him change you. Let Him change your memories. Don’t let go of these promises. Hold on to them.

2 Corinthians 10:4-6

New King James Version (NKJV)

4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Cast down every thought, every memory, everything that tries to come up against what God has done for you and is doing in you.

Say right now:

“No matter what scares are on me, God’s promises are greater….”

What Satan means for evil, God will turn around for good….

You are His child. You are in His Hands. Let Him comfort you and change you today!!!!!